The family of a 25-year-old man is calling for the staff members involved in an incident that led to his death while in custody at an Ohio jail in March to be charged with murder.
Ten Montgomery County Jail employees have been put on paid administrative leave after the Montgomery County coroner ruled the manner of Christian Black’s death as homicide, Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said in a statement.
Black was arrested and booked into the Montgomery County Jail on March 23, according to Ryan Julison, a spokesperson for the law firm representing his family.
The next day, jail employees intervened after Black began “forcefully and repeatedly striking his head against the door of his cell,” Streck said.
Security camera video the family’s lawyers presented at a news conference Monday shows officers standing outside a cell as Black repeatedly punches the door. He seems to forcefully bang his head against the door at least four times.
“We’ll acknowledge at this point you can see in the video Christian’s having a crisis and we’ll recognize that law enforcement does have to go in there and find a way to keep him from harming himself,” attorney Robert Gresham said. “But our issue begins when they go into that particular cell, and they ultimately make a number of errors and decisions that amount to what we believe to be deliberate indifference and unlawful use of force.”
The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond Monday night to a request for comment on the accusation of deliberate indifference and unlawful use of force.
The video shows five officers entering the cell and struggling with Black. In the cell, Gresham said, officers pepper-sprayed him and shocked him with a stun gun. The video played at the news conference, however, does not clearly show that.
The video shows officers take Black out of the cell, pin him to the ground and eventually handcuff him with his hands behind his back before they put him on a safety restraint chair.
On the chair, the struggle continues, with officers placing an anti-spit mask on Black and pushing his torso forward in an apparent effort to be able to remove the handcuffs and restrain his arms on the chair, the video shows.
“You can see by the pressure officers are putting on him, my understanding is that’s going to make it almost impossible for him to breathe,” Gresham said.
The video shows Black’s body apparently going limp as officers raise his torso back up and strap his arms to the chair.
Attorney Michael Wright said, “He’s dead at this point.”
Streck, the sheriff, said Black lost consciousness on the chair. Medical staff members performed CPR before he was taken to a hospital, Streck said.
Two days later, on March 26, Black was pronounced dead.
In all, 10 officers were involved at different points between the time they entered the cell and the time they eventually restrained Black to the chair, according to the videos of the interaction played by his family’s attorneys.
In a report from the coroner’s office, Chief Deputy Coroner Sean Swiatkowski said the cause of death was most likely “mechanical and positional asphyxia” and ruled the manner of death as homicide, Streck said.
Gresham said Black was in the mental health area of the facility. Wright added that staff members did not attempt lifesaving aid until 13 minutes after they entered the cell.
The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond Monday night to a request for comment about the claim.
“These officers didn’t do anything that they were supposed to do here. They know better. They should do better,” Gresham said. “We don’t think any further than George Floyd to know how positional asphyxiation works.”
Misti Black, Christian’s mother, said the incident never should have happened.
“Now, every time I see the video, it’s knowing that I’m going to see him take his last breath,” she said.
After he was informed of the likely cause of death, Streck said he placed all 10 employees involved in the incident on paid administrative leave.
“Because Mr. Black was in critical condition and physical force was used to restrain him, I requested that the Dayton Police Department respond to investigate the incident and submit their findings to prosecutors for review,” Streck said. “This leave is a procedural step and does not imply guilt, misconduct, or policy violations.”
Dayton police confirmed that detectives are investigating the “use of force incident.”
“Detectives assigned to the Homicide Unit are actively investigating this incident involving the death of Christian Black and at the conclusion of the investigation will present the case to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office,” police spokesperson James Rider said in a statement.
The Black family’s attorneys are conducting an independent investigation, as well, and Wright said they are asking for the 10 staff members to be arrested, indicted and convicted for “the murder of Christian Black.”
